Metroid: Other M

Regardless the shortcomings, Nintendo definitely deserves praise for yet again hiring not one but two orchestras to play the game's soundtrack start to end– hearing real strings and percussion, occasionally augmented by sci-fi synthesizer, adds a lushness to the soundtrack that Metroid has long deserved.

At first, I wasn't sure that Metroid: Other M would be a proper Metroid game or even a fun one, but as its action intensified over the course of the adventure, it didn't take me long to dismiss the second concern. As for whether or not it's Metroid ... I finished the game with a 45-percent completion rate, and I'm currently going back through the map looking for hidden Energy and Missile Tanks. You tell me.

Nintendo and Team Ninja have created a beautiful Metroid game that digs deeper into the past of Samus. This is without a doubt one of the best Wii games of 2010.

In the end, Metroid: Other M is one of Nintendo's most ambitious projects this generation and deserves some consideration for all that it gets right despite a few missteps. It's recommended for Metroid fans, particularly those who want to know more about Samus Aran and her motivations.

And it is really good, when its occasionally clumsy controls aren't getting in the way of your ability to enjoy it. Luckily, those moments occur a lot less frequently than the ones that make this game satisfying in all the same ways those old Metroid games were.

For this new episode, the Team Ninja dare to start from scratch or almost to eventually offer a new gameplay, switching brilliantly between action/exploration and story... The game stays very much advised to the fans of Samus who'll find her more powerful – and fragile – than ever.

Ham-fisted controls and storytelling turn Samus into a clumsy blabbermouth, with a game that squanders all the series' best tricks and adds none of its own.

Played through this one after suffering through Beyond. Why couldn't we get a sequel to this one instead? It's really good

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

It's certainly not a bad game but it doesn't really fit well into the Metroid franchise. Let's say Team Ninja has some traditional ideas about masculinity and femininity. I think the gameplay is generally fine though it unfortunately misses the point of adventure games by railroading you a lot. I think it's actually pretty cool to try an innovative control system by having the player switch between sideways mode and pointer mode. Even if the idea didn't end up being so good, I like experimentation for the sake of experimentation. And the story starts out great by recreating the classic ending of Super Metroid in glorious 3D. Indeed, throughout the game Team Ninja pays homage to other Metroid games so it's clear Other M was made by true fans. The real problem with the game is the horrendous mistreatment of Samus's character. They took the most badass independent woman in the universe and transformed her into a delicate sobbing flower with "daddy issues." All Metroid games have to come up with some reason Samus doesn't start out with all her powers from the last game, and in this game the reason is that she's not "authorized" to use them. Samus should have given Adam the finger when he demanded that she follow orders. She was there as an independent bounty hunter answering a distress signal and she can do what she wants.

What a catastrophe of game design, storytelling, pacing, music, and enemy design. As a Metroid fan, I was left speechless while playing and finishing it for the first time. Everything from controls to traversal is tedious and boring. I am still baffled how this accident of a video game from a beloved franchise could ever have happened.

The story and especially the voice acting is so bad, that at times it can be funny. Everyone sounds like they were reading the script at 3 am for the first time while trying to not wake up anyone. The plot sounds interesting, but the way it's told is atrocious. The game doesn't understand "show, don't tell". Instead, the game feels the need to overexplain things through Samus' inner monologue. Furthermore, the character of Samus in this game does not match at all with her character from the other games. This character could have maybe worked better as an origin story, but this game is supposed to take place close to the end of the timeline. On the other hand, the gameplay is at least not that bad. The game is incredibly linear, even when compared to more linear Metroid games, the camera is locked, and the controls are extremely clunky and were probably made by the same people who made the n64 controller. Despite that, there were moments when I thought the game was entertaining, particularly with some boss fights, although I would rather have the gameplay of any other mainline Metroid/Metroid prime game. Furthermore, the game didn't have any major bugs, and the visuals of the prerendered cutscenes looked good.